Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Topic: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again) (Read 2875 times) previous topic - next topic

Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

March 11, 2005, 09:43:19 AM

In case you didn't hear the news yesterday...

http://www.blueovalnews.com/2005/products/lane.tbird.disc.10mar05.htm

And good riddance to that old fart chariot. Uh buh-bye.

Now can we please have a REAL T-Bird next time?

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #1 – March 11, 2005, 09:47:00 AM

I may be in the minority, but I liked it, it just needed a bit of tweaking (read a few sheet metal changes). Oh well, not my fav. bird. Hopefully we get something better next time.

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #2 – March 11, 2005, 09:50:28 AM

I felt the styling of the car was geared more towards shall we say a "seasoned audience." Darn thing was too heavy too.

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #3 – March 11, 2005, 10:06:33 AM

The Thunderbird has never been one for slow refinement as it has been a "We've got a totally new car to let's stick the Thunderbird name on it. Ford has had it'shiznits(the new GT) and misses since they started on this retro track and I personally think the new Thunderbird was a miss. I don't think most current Ford owners are really into the status symbol with no practicallity cars and that's what I feel the new thunderbird was. Yes, people will spend high dollars for some of the great new cars, but they've got to get either extrodinary performance or utility to show for the money they spend. This of course is just my own personal opinion.

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #4 – March 11, 2005, 10:11:47 AM

*joins Crystal's minority* I didn't think it was too bad.

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #5 – March 11, 2005, 10:41:52 AM

I didn't think it was bad either. I thought they were nice cars. Kind of harking back to the original premise of being a boulevard cruiser rather than a muscle car. And I really like that one that Chip Foose modified right after the new 'birds came out. That was a sweet car.

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #6 – March 11, 2005, 10:49:22 AM

The idea was good, except that the final car was possibly the worst homogenized choice. They had much better looking cars to choose from. Eh, I rarely see them anyway. The last real Thunderbird was built in Lorain in 1997. But I agree about Chip Foose's version...that was killer.

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #7 – March 11, 2005, 10:51:09 AM

I see them pretty much every time I go out. There are more new-Tbirds around here than Fox-bodies. (I think MN12s are still what I see most often, though)

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #8 – March 11, 2005, 10:53:09 AM

That's cuz you live in FL... land of the retired Northerners

I still say it looks more like an early vette though...

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #9 – March 11, 2005, 11:05:04 AM

I think they were great for what they were meant to be. A short run collecters retro cruiser. Mainly, if you owned a '55 when they were new, you own an '05. But just like the baby birds, there's not much of a market for a relaxed two seat, two door cruiser. That's why they added a fixed top and back seat in '58. Sales shot up, and the cars have been selling extremelly well, until they went back to a two seat, slow, drop top.

I'd take a new coupe any day of the week. :) We need an evolution of the MN-12 design concept (not the platform, because they need to shed a few pounds from that formula). This thing was meant to be upmarket from the Mustang from the begining. Even Shelby had an eye for the muscle coupe T-birds of the late 60's, that's why he used the tail lights on the 500 KR.

Could you imagine a Shelby T-bird coupe?

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #10 – March 11, 2005, 11:09:26 AM

Quote from: crystal

That's cuz you live in FL... land of the retired Northerners

68 and sunny, and no state taxes. Just remember that. :p

Put that wrench down..

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #11 – March 11, 2005, 11:10:58 AM

Eric, beat me to it! :)

Yep, that Tbird sucked. I liked driving it as a pretend sports car, but for that price? And it has the same dash as a Lincoln LS? How retro can that really be?

The bird was a turd, it sold to a market that was either half dead or blindly loyal to the Blue Oval.

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #12 – March 11, 2005, 11:16:14 AM

Quote from: Bird351

68 and sunny, and no state taxes. Just remember that. :p

Put that wrench down..

NO wrenches at work (too cold to go to the garage and get one from the trunk), just a tablet pc that I have a growing hatred for anyway...

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #13 – March 11, 2005, 12:07:16 PM

This is the only paper I have on the 06' bird, we will see what comes next...

Re: Thunderbird Is Dead (Again)

Reply #14 – March 11, 2005, 12:40:53 PM

I see it like this:

The Thunderbird was around for fifty years (minus the gap between the 97 and the new style). Of those fifty years, nine of them were a two-seat convertible. 1955-1957 and 2000-2005. For forty-one years the Thunderbird was a personal luxury car, usually with two doors. Better than 80% of the Thunderbirds out there followed the two-door, four-or-five-seat cruiser theme. In 1958, when the T-Bird grew up, its sales increased tenfold. Never in its history of four seats did it ever drop below the two-seater, sales-wise. Until it became a two-seater again.

Now consider that even the original two-seaters were not only competing with the Vette, they were beating them. The recent generation of two-seaters could not even hold a candle to the Vette, much less the SLK, Boxter, M3, TT, and others. It not only looked slow, but it WAS slow. And it handled like . And it had a structure that would make a Fox chassis T-Bird seem rock-solid. All for the bargain price of $40k+. Gee, I wonder why it sold so poorly? The car was a mistake. It was too soft, stylling-and-performance-wise, and it provided no incentive for choosing it over one of its many superior competitors.

Good riddance, I say to it. The only problem is that the T-Bird name will probably never come back because it would confuse customers. Would it be a two-seater (poor seller) or a four-seater (good seller, but confusing to the public which has recently seen Ford selling two-seat Thunderbirds and going on about their heritage)? Would a four-seat Thunderbird be construed as an admission on Ford's part that the two-seater was a bad idea (for the second time)? I would bet Ford wouldn't take that chance over a name...

Of course, if the Zephyr name could be resurrected after being pasted to a Fairmont clone anything is possible...